Overall, primary doses of the COVID vaccine and boosters are still the most effective means of protection against COVID-related illness, hospitalization, and death. Experts can now confirm a gradual reduction in protection from initial vaccinations against mild and moderate sickness. Therefore, boosters are essential, especially during the Omicron spike.  Primary Vaccine Effectiveness Declines Over Time  COVID vaccines remain an essential first defense against serious illness and death from COVID-19. With the presence of Omicron and the likely emergence of new variants in the future, primary...

The COVID-19 pandemic is now heading into its third year. For many people, this has become an increasingly scary time to be a kid or a parent. That is mainly because the rate of COVID hospitalizations among children, especially those under five, has risen drastically in the United States.  According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the COVID rate among 100,000 children is over 14,000. Although some people believe that healthy children rarely get COVID-19, severe sickness, hospitalization, and death can result. Child hospitalization prevention is essential to reduce the current COVID-related...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that one in five people in the United States suffer from one or more sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV. With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States saw increases in infections like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis. The deflection of some medical funding and resources to COVID-related care has also made STI testing and treatment difficult to access. In general, attention moved away from sexual health and other initiatives to tackle the pandemic.  Sexual activity...

Most people are tired of COVID-19. Now entering our third year of the pandemic, it seems, on the one hand, we are making significant progress with vaccines, boosters, and treatments. On the other hand, we're dealing with Omicron, the latest mutation of the coronavirus creating a surge of cases across the United States and the world. And if we don't get a handle on COVID-19 with higher vaccination rates, we're susceptible to new strains.  "Omicron, with its extraordinary, unprecedented degree of efficiency of transmissibility, will ultimately find just about everybody," said Dr. Anthony Fauci....

As reported in a 2014 Public Reports article, a large and compelling body of evidence has accumulated, particularly during the last two decades, that reveals a powerful role for social factors—apart from medical care—in shaping health across a wide range of health indicators, settings, and populations. This evidence does not deny that medical care influences health; rather, it indicates that it is not the only influence on health. Moreover, research suggests that medical care may be more limited than commonly thought, particularly in determining who becomes sick or injured in the first place.  Consider...